J A K E W E L C H . D E S I G N

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Description from UMOCA's website:

"Spanning three decades and three continents of archival material, Language of Movement is artist Milad Mozari's ongoing conversation with Ghaffar Pourazar, an Azerbaijani-Iranian computer animator turned Beijing Opera performer. The materials presented are layers of media collected in Pourazar’s life and transported by Mozari from Pourazar’s old apartment in Beijing. They point to Pourazar’s desire to learn Beijing Opera without knowing the language, where he feverously documented learning the art form. The Exit Gallery exhibition consists of archival photographs, video, and sound. It features the artist’s interpretation of Pourazar’s journey through animation, computer vision, and immersive environments. The exhibition is a proposal for preservation, where the multiplicity of language and place exist on a continuum."

As his exhibition assistant, I worked closely with Mozari to develop the exhibition by creating generative patterns and animations, a custom pose-detection script, and other additional spatial and hardware elements.

The patterns projected on the frame and used to decorate the space were designed and animated in p5.js. In its developement, we pulled inspiration from Islamic tiling while still being organic and changing in their relationship to echo Pourazar's experience as an Azerbaijani-Iranian in learning his role as the Monkey King without knowing the language.

The pose-detection algorithm written in Python using MediaPipe is paired with a webcam and photo loupe to magnify film strips of images from Pourazar’s time in training. The script draws a gold and red "stick figure" over figures in various poses echoing his early animation and motion capture work. Often the algorithm takes a moment to recognize the pose before it gets it correct, much like Pourazar's process of learning the movements for his role.

↳ Exhibition information on UMOCA's website
↳ See Milad Mozari's other work

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Developed in March of 2024, I worked closely with Austin to create these animations for the landing page on his portfolio site. On load, each photo renders with a staggered pixelation effect. When hovered over, each photo raises.

↳ See Austin's work here

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Developed during the fall 2023 Multi-Disciplinary Design senior studio in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Utah, this project is an art installation designed to explore and challenge the role technology and reproduction play in the creation of art.

When an artwork is reproduced, its re-contextualization alters its meaning & something special about the original is lost. With machine learning and AI image generation, art can be created, appropriated, and re-imagined by an algorithm, completely removing the role of an artist altogether. It is more important than ever to find ways to use these technologies to connect us with artwork before they remove us from it.

The installation consists of a 1369mm x 1122mm CNC pen plotter that interfaces with attendees in the exhibit space through a camera connected to a custom program. The software works to track faces in the space & draw their movements to a canvas, resulting in a web of strokes where each vertex represents an attendee who approached and viewed the installation – an art piece that is intrinsically connected to those who view it.

↳ See my post about the project on Instagram

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To achieve the dithering effect, monochromatic tiles were made in Illustrator to represent different brightness values. The tiles were then loaded into a custom program coded in Procesing that could pixelate an image and assign each pixel a tile.

For the source image, a collage was made of satellite photographs of Utah's seven universities. The composition was processed through the program resulting in a unique banner pattern that could be used to create the remaining assets, such as the logo & watermark.

↳ Digital Humanities Utah website
↳ Digital Humanities Utah Instagram

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A modified version of the Saving Face program, this real time interactive installation used a webcam to detect and copy the faces of attendees who approached the projection and pasted them into a grid.

↳ MAACH Agency website

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IKEA's KYRRE is a popular stool designed to be modern, affordable, stackable, & multi-functional. Made of birch plywood and veneer & coming in a variety of colors, it is a practical choice of furniture for the home. What the would happen if that intended function were to shift? In this project, the stool has been re-designed for use as a utility object in workshops or garages without changing its form.

The stool has be re-designed with metal legs and a sheet-metal top to add strength and durability. With these new materials, the stool can have projects clamped to it or have glue easily scraped off its surface without sacrificing its stacking ability. For color, high visibility hues were chosen, mimicking those already commonly used with tools found on construction sites.

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The Pod Mill approached my team and I to help them approach the issue of engaging their audiences who watch their podcasts on video platforms. Because not every show can feasibly have a multiple-camera setup, we created a series of generative audio-reactive visuals in TouchDesigner which could be easily modified to fit any show's branding.

↳ The Pod Mill

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Developed during the spring 2023 Multi-Disciplinary Design junior studio in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Utah, this project is a speculative installation designed to explore machine learning as a UI tool to overcome language barriers. Attendees approaching the exhibit would have their face analayzed and a machine learning algorithm would determine whether their face was expressing one of seven emotions: neutral, happy, sad, anger, disgust, surprise, or fear. Based on the perceived emotion, the program would automatically play a random video clip exhibiting said emotion.

The exhibit consisted of a camera, a screen, an optional button for halting video playback, and instructions. It worked by running a facial emotion recognition (FER) algorithm consisting of a residual masking network framework and tensorflow in Python, and sending the perceived emotion to a program written in Processing via websocket that could then handle video playback. The Processing program would use this data to pick from "emotion" categories to play a random video related to the expression. Once a video would start playing, attendees could then have the option to press a green button to halt playback if desired.

↳ "Residual masking network" code by Luan Pham used in the project

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Developed over a week long period in collaboration with classmates, the goal of this project was to use micro-controllers and electronics to gather data and conduct research. Built using an Arduino Uno R3, light sensors, various electronics, acrylic and MDF, this device helped gather arbitrary light values near bus stops. Multiple values were measured and recorded at each location and then averaged to improve accuracy and consistency. After measuring each area, it was found that the middle income neighborhood was the darkest, followed by the high income neighborhood, and the low income neighborhood was the brightest.

↳ Income data map for Salt Lake City
↳ Google Maps list of bus stops analyzed
↳ Spreadsheet of the data

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Founded by Studio Dumbar/DEPT® and Global, DEMO Festival aims to showcase the worlds best motion design by displaying the works of designers from all across the globe on more than 5000 screens across the Netherlands, including train stations, metros, shopping centers, Schiphol Airport, Eindhoven Airport and Rotterdam The Hague Airport, on billboards along major highways, and in the streets. This piece was submitted and selected to be shown as part of the event.

↳ Offial DEMO Festival website
↳ "Pixel Waves" shared to DEMO's Instagram

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The deck was assembled using placeholder text and images in conjunction with Camp4's existing typefaces and visual identity. Paired with SOHI's aesthetic of a physical collage aesthetic, film contact sheets, film burn, and grime, the design evokes feelings of nostalgia and adventure.

↳ Check out SOHI Studios
↳ Check out Camp4 Collective

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Working closely with the band, video footage was filmed and converted into ASCII characters while additional animations were created in conjunction with collaboration Evan Pack (of Body of Leaves) using Blender and TouchDesigner.

↳ Body of Leaves on Bandcamp

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Developed during the fall 2022 Multi-Disciplinary Design junior studio in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Utah, FOLDERS was designed with the idea of creating an "online commons", a place where designers can openly and freely collaborate to collect, find, and share resources. As designers we have to keep track of many tools and inspirations – this tool is designed to not only make it easier, but to encourage a community-focused approach in working with other designers.

The website follows a simple structure of three main tabs, all accessible from the landing page and from a drop down menu.

The ‘Profile’ tab is the hub for all resources saved by the user. Through folders and sub-folders, links can easily be saved, organized, accessed, and shared with others. When saving a link, users add tags which inform the algorithm for the ‘Explore’ tab. Resources can also be shared directly within Folders to groups & other users.

The ‘Explore’ tab contains the feed of all algorithmically recommended resources as well as the folders of other users similar to those of the users. Links and folders can be quickly added to the user’s own profile by clicking the blue ‘plus’ icon.

The ‘Collab’ tab is where users can find and join groups which cater to their interests. By joining these new communities, users are encouraged to work with each other to strengthen each other in design. Links from the users’ profile can be quickly shared here, and resources can be added to their profile by clicking the blue ‘plus’ icon which will automatically appear next to links.

↳ Full interactive prototype on Figma

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UPHERE! Records is an independent record label & collective based in Provo, Utah. For this project, 3D graphics were designed for their Compilation Vol. 2 cassette tape to raise money for refugees of the Ukraine-Russia war. All proceeds went to Save The Children and The Ukraine Humanitarian Fund.

↳ The tape on Bandcamp
↳ Promotional post on Instagram

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Developed during the spring 2022 Multi-Disciplinary Design junior studio in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Utah, this project is a collection of drawings and a final physical artifact created to document and explore the natural systems found in papaya.

The drawings explore the inner and outer physical forms of the fruit as well as its ephemeral and cultural qualities.

The physical artifact is built of acrylic circles with the cross-sections of a papaya cut into their centers. The base is designed so that when the crank is turned, the cross sections turn opposite to one other. When a light is shined through, the projection of the turning sections generates a new papaya cross-section.

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Developed during the fall 2021 Multi-Disciplinary Design sophomore studio in the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Utah, this project encouraged students to prototype, document, and research in a speculative space to meet the project's requirements. Utilizing code, infrared cameras, and projection, VIRTUALIZED ABSTRACTIONS is a deployable apparatus that can be set up as an installation where users approach the device to have their body distorted into pixels. The abstraction is projected onto the wall in front of them, a mask of their physical form.

By interacting with this "mask", users have their vision shifted from a physical realm to digital one -- distorting their sight and providing an interesting reflection on what it means to be.